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John Wolfe's Thumbnail For His "Best of 2022" Video As an avid consumer of YouTube content with a vested interest in gaming, it should come as no surprise that many of the people I subscribe to are gamers like myself. However, I typically followed people who produced longform video essays, and avoided the "let's play" genre like the plague.  Around 2021 I began to come across let's play videos focusing on horror games. Now, these are not games I like to play myself (I get scared easily in games). But I enjoyed seeing others play and to take in their reactions. It was difficult though, at first, to find someone authentic to watch. Why? Because the horror game let's play genre is dominated by fake personalities and contrived spectacle. Creators build entire brands around exaggerated jump-scare reactions, face-stretching thumbnails, and a relentless volume of slop designed to play with the YouTube algorithm.  While commercially successful, this trend cr...

As a long-time veteran of Azeroth, I've had my fair share of fun with Blizzard's Remix events. They're a great way to shake things up and collect some cool rewards. But I have to say, this latest one, Legion Remix (or "Lemix" as the community has affectionately dubbed it) feels different. It feels special. The original Legion expansion is widely considered one of the best in WoW's history, and this event gives us the ability to relive that epic story with the aid of the supercharged power boosts that the remix events are known for.  Why is Lemix So Addictive? Beyond all the shiny mounts and transmogs, the success of any Remix event comes down to its core gameplay loop. Is the moment-to-moment experience actually fun? Is it compelling enough to keep you logging in day after day? In the case of Legion Remix, the answer is a resounding yes. Lemix absolutely nails the core experience in several key areas that make it incredibly addictive. For many of us, playing t...

  When Sid Meier's Civilization VII launched in early 2025, fans were decidedly lukewarm about it. Instead of universal acclaim, Firaxis faced a deeply divided community and a persistent "Mixed" review score on Steam. Complaints ranged from technical bugs to fundamental design choices that alienated long-time fans. But now, with the release of the massive November "Tides of Power" update and the holiday sales season upon us, I'd like to approach the obvious questions: Is the game finally fixed? And if so, is it worth buying? This breakdown analyzes the game's tumultuous launch, dissects the sweeping changes of the latest update, and delivers a clear verdict on whether it's time to finally add Civ 7 to your library. Part I: Why Civ 7 Divided Fans To properly evaluate Civilization VII today, we have to understand its state at launch. Upon release, the community verdict was harsh. Players critiqued the game as buggy, with a clunky user interface and a g...

There has been a lot of excitement and confusion lately surrounding the new game, Where Winds Meet. The online buzz is undeniable, typically citing the game's visuals and the promise of a sprawling Wuxia martial arts fantasy. Yet the hype belies the questions that many are asking: What kind of game is this? Is it a true Massively Multiplayer Online RPG (MMORPG) in the vein of say, World of Warcraft? Or is it a single-player epic reminiscent of Ghost of Tsushima? Or, is it something else entirely?  The ambiguity is understandable. The game presents itself as a sweeping open-world adventure, a deep sandbox RPG, a high-octane action game, and a hub for complex social and multiplayer systems. In this article we will try to deconstruct this hybrid model to determine what this game truly is, and what kind of gamer it is targeting.  Part I: An Ambitious Single-Player Epic with an MMO Endgame Where Winds Meet is a free-to-play, open-world action-adventure RPG set in 10th-cen...

Earlier this year, conservative gamers waged a "culture war" against Assassin's Creed Shadows. Ubisoft's decision to feature Yasuke, an African man who served a 16th-century Japanese lord, had prompted a debate over historical revisionism, racial representation, and corporate media agendas. Let's begin by discussing who exactly Yasuke was, as well as his significance. Historical accounts drawn from Jesuit letters and Japanese chronicles like the Shinchōkōki (The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga) state that Yasuke arrived in Japan in 1579, accompanying the high-ranking Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano.  In 1581, during a visit to the capital, Yasuke's presence caused a sensation that drew the attention of Oda Nobunaga, the era's most powerful warlord. Fascinated by him, Nobunaga took Yasuke into his service, bestowing upon him a Japanese name, a residence, a stipend, and a sword. Yasuke remained in Nobunaga's retinue until 1582, when he fought for the O...

Alright, this is going to be a quick article relating to my first impressions of The Outer Worlds 2. Perhaps in the future I'll give a full review, but at around 7 hours into the game I wanted to provide you all with my snap judgment and clear up some possible misconceptions I've seen in other reviews of the game. Also, this will be free of spoilers. I won't bury the lede here. This is a much better game than the original. As the title suggests, the general feel of the game, to me, is nearly exactly like that of Fallout: New Vegas. Similar to New Vegas, I bought The Outer Worlds 2 on a whim and hoped for the best. And like New Vegas, I've been a bit blown away by what is on offer here.  This game is literally the New Vegas formula wrapped in Unreal Engine 5, replacing the post-apocalyptic western themes for those of science fiction. That alone might convince some of you to want to play, but allow me to expand on some of the other aspects I've noticed.  A common refr...

Yesterday we learned that Amazon's mass layoffs have essentially killed the MMORPG New World, despite its recent Season 10 update bringing in a wave of fresh interest from players.  Personally speaking, I was an early adopter of New World . It released in the middle of the pandemic (September 2021 to be exact), and I remember looking forward to getting to experience a new big MMORPG at a time when in-person social interaction was still mostly restrictive. I bought it on release, even though I only had a laptop with a weak graphics card at the time.  Although I had to run the game at a stutter-filled 30-40fps on low settings, I enjoyed my time with it. Did it have its flaws? Certainly. I believe I've even described them earlier on this very site. Chief among the flaws were the lack of an endgame, the generic quests, and nonsensical lore.  But it did have a number of strengths, including its skill system, fun crafting, and action combat. My favorite aspect of the game was t...

Nintendo games are notorious for never going on sale. So if you buy one, you should know going into it whether it's your cup of tea. I enjoy many of Nintendo's games, from Mario Kart and Pokémon, to Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, and Animal Crossing. I've even enjoyed the two open world Zelda games (despite disliking the prior Zelda games). The only title in Nintendo's recent lineup that I didn't enjoy much was Super Mario Odyssey. Why? I'm not a platformer person. While it's fun in small doses, I don't really like entire games built around it. I also am not fond of puzzles. If I have to play a game with platforming and puzzles, then I want it to have good combat or quality voice acting with an engaging story. Super Mario Odyssey checks none of those boxes for me personally, although I acknowledge its strengths: slick gameplay, precise movement, and creative use of imagination.  I figured I would give Donkey Kong Bananza a try, despite having been lukewarm with...

  Editor's Note: This article reflects a talk given by then-Assistant Professor Caitlin Rosenthal in 2017. Her most recent work, including the book discussed below, can be found here . For UC Berkeley professor Caitlin Rosenthal, the history of capitalism will remain impenetrable as long as we continue to provide weak definitions for capitalism. Though countless scholars have tried to define capitalism, no clear definition has been settled on. In her new book Accounting for Slavery , Rosenthal hopes to change that, and argued as such in her talk. One of the premier historians of capitalism, Rosenthal fielded questions about the arguments at the center of her forthcoming book. Put simply, she contends that nineteenth century southern plantations need to be studied as businesses, much as northern factories are, in order to better understand capitalism. For Rosenthal, capitalism is about commodification. As such, she argues that the commodification of slaves allows us to better unders...